The JM3 Philosophy 

I have been in a perpetual search for information on the game of lacrosse for my entire adult life, looking for the best models for athletic and lacrosse development.  Men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, box lacrosse, I am fascinated by all of it and I spend as much time as possible studying film, working or playing in the "Lab" (on the field), doing podcasts and webinars with the game's greatest coaches and players, and working with my JM3 Athletes and JM3 Coaches.  

This quest for the Holy Grail of Lacrosse Information began when I was hired as Offensive Coordinator at Yale University when I was 23 in 1991 under Head Coach Michael "Bones" Waldvogel.  Anyone who knows "Bones" a 2x World Teamer and who took Yale to the Final Four in 1990, knows he was a lacrosse genius who saw the game in a unique way.

The USA Lacrosse Progression

In 1993 I was approached by a couple college buddies, EJ Heiser and Joe Madden (son of NFL HOF'er John Madden) about creating a lacrosse video series.  This project was a game changer for me as a young coach as I had to try and put together my thoughts for a development model for the whole game!  

In going through this video for the first time in decades, it was fun to take a stroll down memory lane and it is also amazing how relevant the content still is!  No doubt the game has evolved and skill across the board is a lot higher, but the Gaits, Zulberti, Marachek, McCabe, Towers, Lowe, Hiller and McAleavey would be stars today with their skill set from yesteryear.  I hope you check this video out, it's pretty awesome!  

You will love the practice footage of drills back in the day and insane skills on display from players like: Dennis Goldstein, Chip Mayer, Joe Breschi, Jim McAleavey, Mark Millon, Andy Towers, Jay Stalfort from the fall of 1994

Thanks to former ESPNU Producer, John Vassallo, for providing the NESN footage of classic game clips from the late 80's and early 90's!

Here's the entire two hour video series!  This was content ahead of it's time!  If you want to see the origins of modern lax thinking, you will find it here! 

Check out the time stamps for some highlights! 

• 16:27 Yale Physics Professor and author of "Physics of Baseball,"  Bob Adair discusses Handedness and how Mickey Mantle became a switch hitter and shows how you do this on the black board!
• 23:53 Jimmy McAleavey with a sick BTB goal vs Harvard in '88
• 24:27 JM3 with a slick one hand pass to Mike "Sauce" Marinelli Brown/Yale '89
• 29:01 John Reese with a Face Dodge and goal Brown yale '89
• 32:44 Philosophies on Shooting
• 37:38 Drills
• 41:54 Face offs Andy Towers
• 52:54 Scotty Hiller With a Pivot Questionmark Rip Brown/UMass '89
• 53:33 A sick Out Of Bounds Play from Paul Hooper called Ot & Otter, with two X Cuts!
• 101:20. Andy Towers from Darren Lowe in 1989, their freshmen year
• 107:15 Insane change of direction by UMass Attackman Tommy Carmean vs Ricky Williams of Army UMass/Army '86
• 110:59 Then Brown Defensive Coordinator Joe Breschi teaching checks
• 112:53 Harvard Coach Gerry Byrne with the surgical COD back check UMass Army '86
• 114:06 Pat McCabe with the Nasty Butt Dig Syracuse/Umass '89
• 128:21 Richie Moran talking about the late great Eamon McIneaney
• 129:39 Tom Marachek with a sick Leaner vs Brown '89
• 133:46 Yale / Brown '92 game clips
• 148:20 Darren Lowe to Oliver Marty Brown/Yale 1992
• 152:48 Gary Gait with an insane Leaner off a Double Staggered Pick on ball
• 154:19 John Zulberti showing his underrated speed and athleticism
• 154:51 Josh McHugh with the backside one timer from Brendan Sheehan Brown Yale '92

The Evolution of the JM3 Philosophy Continues

In the Fall of 2017 I had the rare opportunity to look at the world through a different lens.  I had sold 3d Lacrosse, I had stepped down as head coach of Mountain Vista HS when my son graduated and headed off to college, and I had finished up a summer of coaching with the late great Dave Huntley in the MLL with the Atlanta Blaze.  My youngest daughter was entering 9th grade and I was starting a new business called JM3 Sports, a remote coaching and online education business.  

I took time to reflect on all I had learned from my days at Yale, Denver, 3d and coaching high school.  I had amassed knowledge of virtually every variation of every skill and concept from the best teams and players in the world with teaching smart progressions that could help high school players learn it all!  Practices were efficient, improvement in practices (all filmed) was apparent, and my desire to figure out the best 

The one fact that always bothered me, however, was the translation from practice to games.  Why was it that my players could do every skill in the book during drills in practice, but would only use a fraction of those skills in games?  Truthfully, my players probably used a lot more skills than most kids, but still, I wasn't even closed to satisfied.

Teaching Multiple Hitches

Here's an example: we would do this Approach 1v1 Drill quite a bit to work on Wind up moves.  It's a good drill and by using tennis balls we also learned to shoot screen shots.  What I always wanted players to learn was how to Multi-Hitch, which is the act of hitching twice or more in order to find your screen, or keep the entire defense at bay.

Even though I think this drill is a great way to simulate approaches on defense, in my present state of thinking I would probably not run it anymore for two reasons.  First, I don't like the idea of scripting a situation for players to execute a skill or concept,  It's an example of what I mean about structure doesn't translate to real games.  Second, I don't think this drill (or any 1v1) for that matter provides enough context of other defenders or teammates.  

4v4 From Behind

The 4v4 From Behind Game in the video above is a perfect example.  With a boundary of 10 yards above the GLE and two poles with two shorts on defense, we are simulating Big-Little inverts and crease play in a competitive situation!  By winning and losing, players learn to compete, communicate, and adjust on both sides of the ball.  By using film to teach, we can show them after the fact exactly what happened.  This is how I use Free Play concepts in a regular practice situation.

How can you get players to learn to use Multi-Hitches like this?

If you want to know how players will learn how to use Multi Hitches, watch the video below from Free Play environments.  For the record, I talk to my JM3 Athletes constantly about deception and specifically about using Multi Hitches when I do my Zoom calls with them, but we do not coach or even mention skills like these.  We play and eventually they do it!

Dialing up Free Play

The fall of 2017 I began to create Free Play environments for my daughter, her friends and my JM3 Athletes.  Even when I'm coaching a team or a large group with full equipment, I design a competitive environment with a winner and a loser along with context generated by the rules of the game. 

If your players learn it (any skill or concept) on their own, meaning if they do it on their own, (without your prompting), they will likely do it in a game!

JM3 Curriculum

Simply put, I teach JM3 Athletes to play lacrosse (or other sports) games outside of structure and coaching in context where the learning is implicit.  Then we watch the film and breakdown what happened and why.

If you are a coach, a parent, or a player, I highly recommend that you consume the content below.  It will open your eyes to amazing possibilities.  This is literally the road map of everything you need to be great!

• Podcast on Free Play: the most powerful tool for athletes to develop has been eliminated from the lives of our kids.
• Article from Raymond Verheijen, “Why Isolated Skills Training Slows Down Development"
• Podcast on Fundamentals: a misunderstood word that holds players back from being their best.
• Podcast on Box Lacrosse: Canadians and Native Box Lacrosse players have produced 13/20 all time goal scorers in DI history and Shoot at 34% vs US field players who have shot at 28% for ten plus year.  Further, Canada, with less than 10% of the number of players (of the US) and invest about 1% of money, has won two of the last four world championships.  
• Highlight video: Pick up Games of 2020: the level of skill, IQ and pure joy displayed from college, HS, committed, uncommitted, boys and girls in this video is incredible!

• Podcast with Strength & Conditioning with Mike Boyle
• Podcast with Speed Guru Tony Holler on the Feed The Cats Program
• Listen to this 10 minute explanation of the : The Inner Game of Tennis Here’s an article about how Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll have used the concepts in this book.
• Please read this blog post on “Structure vs Free Play"